'Mario! Wake up!' The red plumber heard a familiar voice, 'You have to return...for everyone's sake!'
'It must be the one who I caused chaos with...' Mario whispered to himself. He wanted to have a look of what he had thought for the past few days, but when he opened his eyes, he only saw Luigi, who was next to him for the past few minutes.
'You seem...off, bro,' Luigi said, 'Are you sick or just tired? If so, I gotta go tell the Toads--' 'No, no, I'm fine,' Mario said as he got off his bed.
When he was on his way to get to the Castle, 'It's great to see you again, Mario!' A Toad said happily. More and more people were walking past the hero, either greeting him or simply waved. It sure felt great, but somehow, he felt...weird.
While he was waiting for Peach to open the castle door, he saw a bunch of Inklings around him doing, well, Inkling things. That reminded him of a certain someone, but he just couldn't remember who.
'Since when did they let other characters from different franchises in?' Mario asked. 'Mario, those are Bloopers. What do you mean?' Luigi looked at his brother, confused.
'I'm starting to get hallucinations...' Mario whispered to himself. However, his brother heard that, and decided to take him to the doctor.
He somehow, probably because of his unknown sickness, blacked out while walking. 'Mario!' He heard Luigi and a crowd of Toads screaming.
'You gotta hang on!' He heard a voice. 'Another member of the gang...it's familiar,' he thought. However, when he opened his eyes, he only saw Luigi, who was carrying him to the hospital.
'Hm, it must be something weird going on with him...' the doctor exclaimed when he heard about Mario's case.
'Like something which is having major consequences and will soon be the spark that ignites a series of huge events?' Luigi asked. '...You can say that, I guess,' the doctor replied, 'Anyways, Mario needs some rest. I think he should stay here for a while for observation…'
--
'Was I acting like one of the gang members?' Mario thought as he woke up at midnight again.
He thought of what Luigi had said while the doctor explained his case (he was no longer fainted, but he was still sleepy). It seemed familiar, and after that, he remembered that there were, indeed, a long series of events.
He wanted the sleep peacefully for one night, but the troubling thoughts couldn't get off his head. And this time, he thought of some events again.
This time, it's something about his friends' Universe and their existence.
The only thing he recalled is that he was the 'Avatar' of their Universe. He didn't really know what that meant, but it seemed important.